Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Quarterly report from Builder Mama HQ

It’s been a hella long day today, so here’s the quick update….

*****

I need some No-Doz, please

Today was our quarterly review meeting at work. I usually enjoy hearing the financial update and about the projects coming down the pike, but today was like they took the most boring crapola ever and jammed it into an extravaganza of epic boredom. Joey asked me who fell asleep first, and I had to admit that I didn’t know since I was probably already asleep at that point.

*****

Intervention

I’m afraid that Monkey Man is becoming a dessert addict. It’s gotten pretty bad lately to the point that we had him on dessert probation until he showed significant signs of improvement. Apparently today at school, he had a total meltdown because his teacher took his cookie away. He had eaten a grand total of one forkful of pasta, three raisins, and maybe ½ cup of applesauce, which in my opinion does not constitute a good lunch and the teacher is very familiar with our feelings on eating and dessert.

He, on the other hand, firmly believes that the scales of justice at preschool have been weighted heavily against him and was preparing to contact Amnesty International if I hadn’t intervened. We had another talk tonight about eating healthily and dessert being a special treat, but I’m kind of at a loss here. The kid takes after me – I love nothing more than a good dessert, so I am having a hard time being a hardass on this one. Ugh. Pass the cheesecake, would you?

*****

The stars must be in alignment

In the eleven years that I’ve known Joey, we have NEVER been to the beach together. As it turns out, he despises it and other than going to the Carribean three times, he has zero interest in going to the beach.

Today I got an e-mail from our friends – it’s Joey’s college roommate and his wife, they have two adorable boys that Monkey Man adores – that they are renting a beach house in the Outer Banks for a week and wanted to know if we would join them for a few days. And believe it or not, Joey actually said yes. I think it had something to do with the beautiful pool table and inground swimming pool that we saw on the house’s website, but I may be wrong.

I am totally stoked…yet terrified because I will need to purchase bathing suits for myself. Such a fine line between total bliss and terror, isn’t it?

*****

Eeyore’s corner

Today I had to give my response to the company that I interviewed with that I wasn’t coming on board after all. Before I did, though, I decided that maybe Eeyore and I should have a little chat about my career development, my motivation, blah blah blah. In other words, I wanted to scope out the current status at work before I totally pissed off my potential employer by turning down the job.

I went into his office and eventually fessed up to what had been going on. He actually took it fairly well – was very impressed that I had received the offer and surprised that I didn’t accept it since he knows how badly I want this job. I tried to explain to him that it wasn’t necessarily about money or changing companies; it was trying to see if presenting my credentials at a company where I’m an unknown quantity would result in a job offer as a project engineer, which it did.

We talked a little more about things I want to accomplish and what needs to be done, and as I left his office I assured him that the whole thing wasn’t because I was unhappy working for him – but that I was unhappy with the fact that my company won’t give me this chance I’ve been asking for. He said he understood and reminded me that I have a lot of pull at our company and not to negate that from the whole equation. And he also told me that I had been doing an excellent job and he understood that if an opportunity like this came again that I would consider taking it – but he would hate to lose me as a team member.

As I was walking out, I asked him if he was going to think that I was on a job interview every time I had to miss a day or leave early, and with a twinkle in his eye he replied, “Of course I will, it’s my job to harass you.”